Meet Mr Gelato

Meet Massimo Franchi, the inspirational character driving a traditional Gelato Company into the London market. The business, Badiani, is a leading historical geleteria. Originally from Florence and which first came to life in the 1930s.

Massimo with his relaxed persona and overall warmth has been serving scoops of their award-winning gelato to Londoners since 2015. In 2016 found a home in Mercato Metropolitano, an urban space in Borough dedicated to fresh Italian artisan products.

Massimo is now exploring new routes for his popular product, renowned in Italy for its Buontalenti trademark flavour. A premium mix of four simple and natural ingredients, the Buontalenti gelato was created in the 1960s to commemorate architect Bernardo Buontalenti, who allegedly created the very first gelato in the 16th century. The recipe of the creamy flavour Dolcevita hasn’t changed since.

Badiani was crowned ‘Best Gelato’ during the Gelato Festival 2015, which takes place every year in London and across other European capitals. From these early days the business has grown and now, through a CPU, serves sites across London.
Gelato is the healthier cousin of the UK favourite ice-cream. It contains more milk than cream, making it freeze at a lower temperature and therefore tastes cooler, lighter for more some, more refreshing. Massimo’s culinary mastermind and master gelataio, Paolo Pomposi, describes it as “more dense and with more intense flavour.” Being the son of a gelato maker and a renowned judge for tasting gelato and sorbet, Paolo has the knowledge and experience to know. He describes gelato as an emotion, “What emotion is it if it’s not good?”

Massimo is one of those exciting characters who wears his heart on his sleeve. His passion is towards people and friendship and when one meets his team at Mercato, they witness strong roots and relationships between the Italian businesses. They are based on traditional and community, two core pillars that support Italian culture, and at the heart of what Badiani does.